Nassau Cops: Witness To Shooting's House Firebombed
FREEPORT, N.Y. (CBS 2) -- An elderly woman survived a fiery attack on Wednesday morning, barely escaping with her life.
CBS 2's Pablo Guzman spoke exclusively with the woman's daughter, who fears she is being targeted for doing the right thing.
"I get this phone call at 4 a.m. … Fire ... My mother's still alive … How can people be so..." Christina Beaton said before breaking down in tears on Wednesday.
Beaton said she thought that by taking her son, Anthony, out of the house in Freeport that she shared with her 75-year-old mother, Thomasina, it would end what she called an escalating series of dangerous attacks that had been aimed at her.
But Nassau County Police said that at about 3:20 a.m. on Wednesday someone threw a Molotov cocktail through the first-floor window. Thomasina Beaton had been sleeping near where the flames started.
"I was scared for my life. I don't know why people got to be so rotten and do things like this," Thomasina said.
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Police sources said Christina Beaton is being targeted because she witnessed a shooting very close to her home.
"One night there was a shooting outside my house. And I saw everything," Christina said, adding that she immediately cooperated with authorities. "A bullet came near my house, and could hit my child."
Added Anthony Beaton: "I really liked that house, but now it's all burned down. It's really sad for me to see the whole house burned down."
Christina Beaton said the district attorney's original offer of protection would not have taken care of her son and mother. On Wednesday night, Nassau County Police said they are relocating the whole family.
And the arson squad believes there might be arrests soon.
The Nassau DA's Office said it offered Christina Beaton protection before the firebombing, but, as Beaton said, she declined that offer.
Now, though, new steps have been taken to protect the whole family.
